Perfect for fans of Jane Austen, this engrossing debut novel offers an unusual twist on the legacy of one of the world’s most celebrated and beloved authors: two researchers from the future are sent back in time to meet Jane and recover a suspected unpublished novel. London, 1815: Two travelers–Rachel Katzman and Liam Finucane–arrive in a field in rural England, disheveled and weighed down with … down with hidden money. Turned away at a nearby inn, they are forced to travel by coach all night to London. They are not what they seem, but rather colleagues who have come back in time from a technologically advanced future, posing as wealthy West Indies planters–a doctor and his spinster sister. While Rachel and Liam aren’t the first team from the future to “go back,” their mission is by far the most audacious: meet, befriend, and steal from Jane Austen herself.
Carefully selected and rigorously trained by The Royal Institute for Special Topics in Physics, disaster-relief doctor Rachel and actor-turned-scholar Liam have little in common besides the extraordinary circumstances they find themselves in. Circumstances that call for Rachel to stifle her independent nature and let Liam take the lead as they infiltrate Austen’s circle via her favorite brother, Henry.
But diagnosing Jane’s fatal illness and obtaining an unpublished novel hinted at in her letters pose enough of a challenge without the continuous convolutions of living a lie. While her friendship with Jane deepens and her relationship with Liam grows complicated, Rachel fights to reconcile the woman she is with the proper lady nineteenth-century society expects her to be. As their portal to the future prepares to close, Rachel and Liam struggle with their directive to leave history intact and exactly as they found it…however heartbreaking that may prove.
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Surprising, unique, and utterly compelling. I couldn’t put THE JANE AUSTEN PROJECT down! A really inventive book. My friend Paige suggested this one, and I loved it — a totally unexpected view of Jane Austen.
It’s every Austenite’s dream of discovering a lost manuscript by Jane Austen—nay—to travel back in time and meet the great author! In “The Jane Austen Project” our world has recovered from the apocalypse and is super high tech—from creating food via 3D machines to time travel. When a letter by Austen has been discovered stating she has finished her novel “The Watsons” (and all we’ve ever known is the existing few chapters), two Austen fans, an accomplished writer/actor and a medical doctor, are selected to travel back in time to befriend Austen and find that completed manuscript…with the caveat, do nothing that might change the future. But how is that possible—and what are the consequences resulting from their activities in 1815 when (if) they return back to the future? Further, our time travelers are charming and believable, and their interaction with each other and the Austens sets a fast pace that had me anxious and cheering well into the wee hours.
Jane Austen died at 42 from some unconfirmed but highly speculated illness, leaving only Six major works in her canon. That her sister Cassandra burned much of her correspondence only fuels the intrigue surrounding Austen, giving fans through the ages much to ponder about her personal life and her plot and character inspirations. Who hasn’t dreamt of going back in time and meeting Austen to try and answer some of these unknowns? “The Jane Austen Project” is an edgy contemporary intrigue that fulfills just such a fantasy. Should totally consider writing a Bronte time travel.
Fans of “The Missing Manuscript of Jane Austen” by Syrie James will adore this smart scifi-historical fiction. I’m just sorry it took me so long to finally read it.
If you love Jane Austen, this is an enthralling novel. Rachel and Liam time-travel from the future (years ahead of today) back to 1815 to find Jane Austen and try to fit themselves into her life in save her lost letters and manuscripts. I loved every page. Could’ve stayed in this book forever. It felt so REAL.
An unusually creative and inventive entry into the ever-growing Jane-related canon. The intersection between time travel and literature is my jam (see also Jasper Fforde) and I loved the characters Flynn created to explore Jane’s world.
4.5/5
A very intriguing premise, an interesting plot and an ending that was both somehow uplifting and depressing at the same time (for me). Very imaginative and evocative. This was deeper and more emotional for me than I expected.
While this revolves around Jane Austen, the reader could easily substitute their own favorite lost-too-soon author and still have an enjoyable read.
This was very well written, the characters are interesting and the plot is original and interesting. I found the “real life impact of time-travel” to be a little more philosophical than I expected, given the book. Still well worth reading!
Wow! Sci-fi meets historical romance meets mystery… this book has it all. I loved it from start to unexpected finish.
Great book! Will read again.
Time travel can be such a touchy topic. Either it is really good like Outlander or just plain trashy and copied. This book was so good – it had the Jane Austen spin and didn’t feel like a used story line. The characters were brought to life in such a cool way that made you feel like you were right there drinking tea with Jane. I loved the situations the main characters got themselves in and the love story was classic Austen but with a modern twist. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who loves Austen.
I love time travel stories. This fills the bill for me.
I love this time-travel Jane Austen novel! It not only brings Austen’s world–and Austen herself–to life. It makes you think long and hard about what it would mean to be the author’s friend, about how her life and career were shaped by those around her, and about what it would mean for a modern-day woman to go back in time and find herself faced with Regency-era temptations, desires, and restrictions of all kinds. Kathleen Flynn’s novel is a perfect compelling and fun summer read, from start to finish, that will have you think about Austen’s life and times in entirely new ways.
I love almost anything to do with Jane Austen books. I was really looking forward to reading this one but I couldn’t make it past the first couple of chapters. The characters didn’t interest me at all. Others loved this book – perhaps I will try again someday when I have nothing else to read.
This was an interesting book. I love all things Jane Austen and thought this sounded like something I might like. I was somewhat disappointed. The story moved along pretty slowly and it was very easy for me to put this down. Liam and Rachel were likeable characters but Rachel was always in her head worrying and wondering about her decisions. It also seemed invasive to the memory of Jane Austen. To travel back in time for the express purpose of stealing her letters and her book The Watson’s. It was an interesting perspective to see the Austen family and the dynamics of each individual character. I also didn’t care for Rachel’s attitude toward sex and the amount of it in the book. Don’t get me wrong, most of it was fade-out, but still it seemed needless to the story. Liam and Rachel are changed by their experiences in 1815. When they come back to the present, it is interesting to see what happens. Also the ending did not give me the closure I expected.
I received this book from Goodreads in one of their Giveaways.
A must for Jane Austin fans! And the sci-fi touch is done just right. I was in England last summer and visited Bath just to see the museum for JA. This book took me back to that trip but in Jane’s time. Enjoy!!
I really loved this book. Two time travelers go to London in 1815 to recover a lost Jane Austen manuscript but traveling in time is always complicated… I would have given it 5 stars but felt the ending should have been stronger for such a great book.
Time travel romance, Jane Austen style
Fast read in one sitting could not put it down. I love all things Jane Austen and was intrigued by this time travel book.
This is one of those books that I could not wrap my mind around the ending… but I certainly ended the read.
I really enjoyed the story, the characters and the fact that the story is about Jane Austen. I’m a Jane fan so it’s fun to imagine how her life would have happened.